Her Father's Daughter
by tkmemmott
Summary: Paige was a mystery as far as her past goes. But what happens when a person from her past comes back into her life and gives her news that may just be enough to shatter her world. See her struggles to reconnect with her family after she finds out her father has cancer. Can Paige regain those relationship or is there no hope?Rated T:language (Waige fluff) (set in Blackmail universe)
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N Hey everyone! So I've been writing a different Fanfic but due to the fact that I just started a new job I don't have a lot of time to write right now so I decided to post this one that a wrote a little while ago. This started out as just going to be a one-shot but then I just kept writing and writing and now it's a multiple chapter fic. This story is set in the same universe as Down the Rabbit Hole We Go and Blackmail but it can stand on its own.**_

 _ **I hope you all enjoy and Please let me know what you think. Depending on what feedback I get I may continue the story, I may not.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I do not own Scorpion or any of its characters.**_

Paige and Walter had been dating for over a year and a half and for them life was perfect. Scorpion was taking off and they were receiving more business than ever, the team was ultimately happier, Paige and Walter's relationship was at an all-time high, and Paige, after talking to Ralph first, had decided to move her and Ralph into the garage with Walter. Things couldn't be more perfect, and it seemed like nothing could bring the couple down from cloud nine. That was until a certain someone showed up from Paige's past.

* * *

The day started out as any other day. Paige and Walter woke up in each other's arms, just the way the couple liked it, got ready, Paige made breakfast while Walter and Ralph fiddled with one of their many projects, then later after eating together Paige took Ralph to school.

By the time Paige got back the whole team was there, along with Cabe.

"Morning everyone," Paige greeted the team.

Everyone gave a mumble of their hellos, which was more then she usually got. Paige walked over to her desk, put her purse down and pulled out the most recent case file. She didn't notice Walter until he put his hands on her shoulders and he bent down to whispered in her ear.

"Interrogation room." Walter whispered. "Wait a minute before you follow me."

Walter stood up and leaving a smirk on Paige's face as she listened to him walk away. She immediately began to count.

Just as she got to sixty she stood up and walked to the back trying to draw as little attention as she possibly could.

She opened the door to the interrogation room and before she could completely close the door Walter's lips were crashing into hers. Her arms automatically wrapped around his neck and her fingers curled into his hair. Just as they were about to deepen the kiss they heard a very familiar, unwanted voice.

"If you two are going to suck face can you at least close the door?" Toby asked sarcastically.

Walter and Paige pulled away reluctantly and Walter sent a glare towards the shrink.

"Can I help you?" Walter asked trying to keep his tone even.

"Oh no I was just trying to mind my own business when I saw _that_." Toby responded.

"Toby shut up," Walter ordered.

"Walter! Paige!" Came Cabe's voice. "Get your ass out here! Toby, leave them alone."

Walter and Paige walked past Toby and headed into the main part of the garage.

"I just got a call on a case. I need everyone to pack up and head to the van. I'll explain on the way." Cabe informed the cyclone.

* * *

The team walked back into the garage after a long, but successful case. Toby instantly laid down on the red couch, Sly walked over to his whiteboard, Happy headed over to one of her many projects, and Walter and Paige headed over to their desks. Paige instantly started on the paperwork that she was supposed to do earlier that morning, while Walter worked on his ColorForm program.

About twenty minutes after the team got back to the garage there was a knock at the door. Toby, being the closest one to the door, got up and opened it. Paige didn't really care who it was so she kept her head down, focusing on her work. It wasn't until the person spoke that Paige looked up.

"Paige?" Came a voice that Paige thought she'd never hear again. Her head instantly lifted and her eyes met his.

"Oh my god" Paige involuntarily said. Paige stood up and walked over to the tall, brown haired boy…no, man that she hadn't seen in over twelve years. "Come with me." Paige started to walk to the back of the garage and didn't bother to make sure the new comer was following her. She only turned when they got to the interrogation room. "In." Paige ordered. "I'll be right back."

Paige walked over to the team. "None and I repeat NONE of you will listen in on this conversation."

This was a side of Paige the team had never seen before, and they could all tell she wasn't joking. She waited for each of the team members to nod before she headed to the back of the garage. She opened the door, and held up her hand to stop him from speaking so she could make sure the door was closed completely.

Paige just looked up at him. She didn't say anything for a while and he didn't dare to speak. Finally Paige found her words.

"What the hell are you doing here Matt?" Paige asked harsher then she meant to.

"Hi Paige," Matt smirked at Paige. "That's the greeting I get after over twelve years?"

"Matt, what did you want me to say?" Paige asked feeling uneasy about his sudden appearance. "How did you find out where I was?"

"Paige, come on, you're all over the news with the team 'Scorpion' it wasn't that difficult." Matt informed her.

"Right," Paige said shaking her head. She took a seat and gestured for him to do the same.

"You look good Paige," Matt smiled at her.

"You…You're a man." Paige stated as if he didn't know. "You were a little kid when I left."

"Yeah people usually grow up after twelve years." Matt smirked. "I was what 13, 14 when you left?"

"Something like that." Paige said remembering the last time she saw him. "Matt, I'm guessing you didn't come to talk about you growing up."

"No," Matt suddenly got very serious. "Paige, dad's not doing so hot."

Paige looked up at the mention of their father. "What's wrong?" Paige couldn't help but be concerned about her father. Sure they didn't end things on the best of terms but that didn't mean she didn't care about him.

"He's got cancer." Matt's eyes began to water. "He can't hold up much longer."

Paige felt tears come to her eyes. She had a lot of feelings towards her parents, most of the negative ones, but to know her father was sick was hard. Paige just couldn't see Jake Dineen as anything but a strong, bullheaded old man.

"Matt…" Paige honestly didn't know what to say.

"Look sis I know things were pretty rocky between you, and mom and dad the last time you saw them but dad needs to see you. He needs to know you forgive him before he passes." Matt took hold of his sister's hand. "Can you put what happened twelve years ago behind you? Please, if not for dad for your kid brother?"

"Matt, there's a lot that you didn't know about back then." Paige shock her head. Could she go back to that town, to that house, to those people? "Matt do you even know what happened?"

"I know bits and pieces but not much." Matt told her. "If you want to clue me in, that'd be great."

"Our parents kicked me out because I was pregnant." Paige told him, she could tell that wasn't the story he was told.

"What?" Matt was stunned.

"What did they tell you?" Paige asked feeling the pain and anger from her past coming back to her.

However, before Matt could answer there was a knock at the door. Paige stood up and walked over to it. She was expecting it to be Toby with some smartass comment but instead it was her boyfriend.

"Hey," Walter greeted her.

"Hi," Paige smiled at him brushing the left over tears off her face. Walter had concern written all over his face but decided that if Paige wanted him to know what was going on she would tell him.

"I figured since you're busy…" Walter shot a glance at Matt, "That I'd go pick up Ralph. Do you need anything while I'm out?"

"Thank you," Paige smiled at him. "No, I'm okay."

Paige leaned in and kissed Walter, which caused the super genius to grin like an idiot.

"Alright, I'll be back."

"Be safe." With that Paige closed the door and turned back to her brother.

"Who's he?" Matt asked in a protective manner.

"That's Walter," Paige informed him. "My boyfriend."

"Walter O'Brien?" Matt asked. Paige didn't know why she was shocked, obviously if Matt found her through news reports he would also know who Walter was.

"Yes," Paige answered. "Can we get back on topic please, Mattie?"

"It's been a long time since anyone's called me Mattie." Matt smiled at Paige remembering his childhood with her.

"That's because I was the only one that ever called you that." Paige answered with her own smile. "Matt…what did mom and dad tell you?"

Matt's face dropped. He was hopping they wouldn't get back to that topic. "All they told me was that you were runny away to LA with that baseball player."

"So, they laid all the blame on me?" Paige asked with hit of a humorless laugh. "How typical."

"Paige, I don't know all the details but what I do know is that after you left mom and dad changed. They missed you, I could tell they regretted something. I always thought that they regretted letting you leave, but I guess not…" Matt tried to smooth things over.

"Did you hate me?" Paige didn't know why she asked that question. She just needed to know.

"To be honest, at first, yeah I did." Matt answered honestly.

Paige ran her hand through her hair.

"Paige, look can you please come back home with me?" Matt asked.

"Matt, I don't think I'm welcome back there." Paige answered honestly. "Mom and dad wanted asked me to do something, something that I couldn't do all so I would stay in school. When I told them no," Paige stopped talking, remembering the day her life changed, "Dad made it very clear that I was no longer his daughter."

"Paige, that's not the case." Matt tried to reassure her. "He may have said that in anger, but I know for a fact that that's not how he truly feels."

"And how does he truly feel, Matthew?" Paige spat letting her anger get the best of her. "Please do tell me how the great Jake Dineen feels about me? Do I still exist? Hell, can I even count myself or my son as Dineen's? Please do tell?"

Paige knew it was unfair to take this out on her 26 year old brother. She knew that her problems with her parents had nothing to do with Matt, but twelve years of anger and pain were boiling out now and her baby brother just happened to be the one taking the brunt of the explosion.

Matt didn't say anything, he just watched his sister. He knew that this was going to be different, but she was almost unrecognizable from their childhood. Paige used to be his best friend, his partner in crime, his confidant, but this Paige, he didn't know this Paige. He knew she had every right to be hurt and angry with their parents and that it would be difficult to get her to go home but the more he talked with her more impossible his mission seemed.

Paige took a deep breath, then looked up at Matt, "I'm sorry Mattie. My problem with mom and dad has nothing to do with you and I shouldn't be taking this out on you. You're just trying to do the right thing and I'm being an ass."

"Paige, you have every right to be mad at them." Matt took his Paige's hand in his own again. "Paige, you don't owe this family anything especially dad, but please consider coming back for at least one day. Just to say goodbye."

"Matt, I already told you I'm not wanted in that house," Paige looked at her brother. "Do they even know that you're here?"

Matt didn't answer right away which was enough of an answer already, "No, mom thinks I'm on a business trip."

"So you couldn't even tell her you were coming to see me?" Paige knew her brothers heart was in the right place, "That should be enough proof that they don't want me there."

"Paige, after you left, even if was as simple as someone mentioning your name dad got too emotional. That day is his biggest regret. Like I said you don't owe him anything but is it too much for me to ask you to go and listen to him? Let him apologize? Please, I'll never ask anything of you again."

Paige was seriously considering going. But she didn't know if she could get the time off and if she could get Walter to watch Ralph while she was gone. She didn't even know if she wanted to see her parents again.

"Matt, I need more time to think about it." Paige informed him. "I have my job, and my son. I can't just put everything on hold and go to Ohio."

"I know, I don't have to be back for another two days." Matt informed her. "Take your time, I have a plane ticket for you, it's your choice if you use it or not."

"Where are you staying?" Paige knew he was probably staying in some old hotel room.

"A hotel down town," Matt said.

"No you're not," Page informed him. "You'll stay here with me, Walter, and Ralph."

"Paige, I've already showed up unannounced, I couldn't possibly…" But before Matt could finish Paige interrupted.

"Matt, I'm still as stubborn as I used to be and I don't take no. You're staying here." Paige stood up. "Come on I need to start dinner."

Matt knew better then to argue any further with his sister, so he did as she said. They walked back into the office area of the garage.

"Mom." Ralph said running up to Paige.

"Hey baby!" Paige pulled him in for a hug and kissed his head. "How was school?"

"Boring as usual." Ralph reported.

"Did you get your homework finished?" Paige asked noticing he had run over from a game of chess with Sly.

"Not yet," Ralph said knowing what was coming next.

"Homework before you hang out with the team. You know the rules." Paige looked at her son. "Come on go get your bag, you can work on at my desk or up in the loft."

"Okay," Ralph said and ran to grab his school bag.

Paige had almost forgotten about Matt until he whispered in her ear, "That's my nephew?"

"Yeah," Paige answered with a smile. "He's a good kid."

"I can tell." Matt smiled.

"Alright everyone, I know you're all bursting with questions but the only answer you are getting right now is that this is Matthew, my baby brother." Paige reported to the team. "You're not going to grill him at dinner tonight, do I make myself clear?"

Everyone nodded.

"Alright good, Matt come with me. You can help me make dinner." Paige smiled at the team and then headed back to the kitchen.

It had been a long time since Matt and Paige had cooked together. Paige was the one that taught Matt how to cook and they used to cook together every day after school. It just became a tradition for the two of them.

The two laughed and talked the whole time, completely oblivious to the looks they were getting from the team.

By the time dinner was done, the team had more questions for Paige then they thought were possible. But they figured that it wasn't exactly a good time to ask.

"Alright everyone, come take a seat." Paige said cheerfully, putting the last pot of the table. The whole team walked over and took their seats. Paige walked up to the loft to get Ralph.

"So, you're Paige's kid brother?" Toby asked sitting down across from Matt.

"Yeah," Matt answered, he didn't know if he liked this guy.

"Toby, no psychoanalyzing Paige's brother." Walter ordered taking his usual seat.

"I would never do such a thing, I was just trying to get to know Matthew here a little bit.

"Please, call me Matt. The only one that calls me Matthew is my mother."

Before Toby could ask anything too personal Paige was back with Ralph. Dinner went rather smoothly, to Paige's surprise.

Paige spent the rest of the evening working on paperwork while Matt and Sly played chess against each other, with Matt losing every time.

"Paige, can I please play against you. At least I'd be able to win." Matt called.

"How do you know I haven't improved Mattie?" Paige shot him a smirk.

"Oh please, you always sucked at chess. I don't think you ever won a single game against me." Matt said laughing.

"Sorry but maybe losing will be good for you." Paige laughed. "Keep beating him Sly."

Just then Matt's phone started to ring. "Excuse me Sylvester." Matt said standing up and walked into the kitchen.

Paige decided now would be a good time to talk to Walter about Matt staying. So she walked up to him.

"Hey do you have a second?" Paige asked.

"Yeah," Walter turned to give her his undivided attention. "What's up?"

"Would you be okay if Matt stayed the night?" Paige sat on the corner of his desk.

"Yeah, I don't see why not." Walter answered. "How long will he be in town?"

"I think he said two days."

"Alright, I'm fine with it as long as you are."

"Thanks babe," Paige leaned in and kissed his cheek. "We'll talk about why he's here, in a more privet setting."

Walter just smiled at her. That's when Matt walked back in the room.

"Paige, can I talk to you?" Matt asked. Paige could tell something was wrong.

"Yeah," Paige said walking over to him. They walked into the kitchen.

"Paige, dad's back in the hospital." Matt's eyes began to fill with tears. Paige wrapped him in a hug. She had her own tears falling down her face. It killed her to see her brother hurting so much.

They stayed there for a while before Paige pulled away.

"How bad?" Paige asked. She knew the team was watching them but she didn't care.

"He passed out while he was standing in the kitchen. He hit his head on the counter." Matt informed her trying to fight the tears. "Mom thinks this is it. I told her I would get on the next plain. Come with me."

"Let me talk to Walter, you get us two tickets." Paige informed him.

Paige began to walk away when Matt called out. "Thank you, Paige."

She walked over to Walter, "Loft, right now."

Walter followed her up to the loft. As soon as they were alone in their bedroom Paige broke down into Walter's arms.

"Hey," Walter whispered with a hit of concern in his tone. He honestly didn't know what to say to her so he just held her in his arms. He knew that when Paige was ready to talk to him she would. Right now she needed to be held in his arms and that's what was going to happen.

After a few minutes Paige pulled away.

"Sorry," Paige chocked out. "I don't know what came over me."

"It's alright," Walter smiled at her. "What's going on?"

"It's my dad." Paige said. "He's dying…from cancer."

"Oh Paige," Walter didn't know what to say. Even though he was improving he still had fairly low EQ.

"I have to head home with Matt. My dad's in the hospital." Paige informed him trying to calm herself down. "Is it okay if I go?"

"Of course, we can figure things out here while you're gone. I'll make sure Ralph is taken care of with school and everything and Cabe can step in if we need a translator." Walter assured her. "You need to be with your family."

"Are you sure?" Paige felt tears returning to her eyes.

"I'm positive." Walter cupped her cheeks with his hands. "We have this covered."

Paige hugged Walter again and gave him a kiss. "I'll go grab some clothes. Tell Matt I'll be down in a bit."

"Okay." Walter said he pulled Paige into another kiss before heading back down to the main floor.

Paige was walking back down the stairs, bag in hand about five minutes later. Matt was waiting passionately for his sister.

Paige walked up to Ralph.

"Be good for Walter," Paige hugged Ralph. "I love you baby."

"I love you mom." Ralph's words shocked Paige. He hardly ever told Paige he loved her that brought the tears back to her eyes. She gave him another quick hug then headed over to Walter.

"Thank you," Paige said hugging him. She stole a quick kiss. She knew he didn't like showing PDA but she wasn't going to see him for a few days so she didn't really care. "I love you, Walter."

"I know," He smiled at her and brought her closer to whisper in her ear. "I'm only a phone call away. If you need me I can be on the next plain to Ohio. I promise."

"Thank you," Paige smiled at him.

She then turned to the rest of the team. "See you guys in a few days." Paige said walking over to Matt. "Don't get into too much trouble while I'm gone."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Toby joked, "We couldn't possibly let you miss out on all the trouble."

"Bye guys," Paige said. Matt grabbed her bag and they were off.

* * *

Paige and Matt were able to get on a flight rather quickly. They knew they would get to Iowa really late but that was mostly due to the time difference.

When they landed the siblings were exhausted. Neither were able to shut their brains up long enough to even begin to fall asleep.

"I'll drop by my apartment and you can drop your stuff off there then we'll head over to the hospital." Matt informed Paige.

"Okay," Paige said looking out the car window as they drove down the road. It had been a long time since she had been back. It was almost cereal. "God, I forgot how beautiful it is here."

"LA's pretty cool." Matt replied. "I understand why you moved there."

The rest of the drive to his apartment and then the hospital was quiet. Both had their minds on their father. It wasn't until they reached the hospital that Paige started to worry.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Paige turned to face Matt. "What if seeing me makes things worse?"

"Paige, I've already told you, dad needs to see you." Matt said he began to get chocked up. "I think if he talks to you he'll be able to finally…finally let go."

"You brought me here so dad could die?" Paige asked shocked.

"Paige, you haven't watched dad suffer through this damn disease. You don't understand how hard it's been." Matt was almost getting angry. "You have no idea how hard it is to watch someone you always saw as strong slowly begin to…to…" Matt couldn't finish his statement, he got too chocked up.

"Okay Mattie, I get it." Paige said through her own tears. "Come on, let's go see dad." Paige took off her seatbelt and got out the car. Matt followed shortly after. Before they walked into the hospital Paige pulled Matt into another hug. "Thank you for coming to get me."

Matt kissed the top of her head. "Come on." With that they walked into the hospital.

* * *

Paige and Matt walked to the room that they were instructed to go to by a nurse. Paige began to feel a bit panicky.

"Maybe I should just hangout out here." Paige said as the approached her father's room.

"Paige, come on. I'll be right by your side." Matt assured her.

"Fine," Paige said. She had a feeling that this wasn't going to end very well for her but she walked with her brother anyway.

Matt knocked on the door and waited for his mother to say it was okay to come in.

"Oh Matthew!" Came the, oh so familiar voice of their mother. "Come in, come in."

Matt turned back to Paige and gave her a smile gesturing for her to follow him into the room. She did even though every part of her being was screaming for her not to.

The first thing Paige saw was her mother who was now hugging Matt with her eyes close, then her eyes went over to the hospital bed that her father was laying in. The sight that met her was enough for her to gasp out loud. Her father was so pale, the once rather large man was now nothing but skin and bones, he had no hair, and he looked as if you breathed too hard on him he would fly away.

Paige thought she heard her mother say something but she didn't really hear her. Paige walked over to her dad's bedside and burst into tears. She collapsed into the chair by the bed and grabbed his hand. She continued to cry. The second she saw him it was like the last twelve years never happened. Paige was back to being daddy's little girl.

Paige could feel someone's hand on her shoulder but she honestly didn't care who it was, she just continued to stare at her father. His condition was worse than Paige could have ever imagined. It killed her to see him like this. It didn't matter what happened in the past, that was her father laying in that bed.

"Daddy, I'm…I'm so so…" Paige couldn't get the words out. She just burst into tears again.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N Alright here's chapter 2! I hope you all enjoy :)**_

* * *

 _ **Review Response: bd: Thank you! I'm glad you like it so far! I'm so sorry to hear about your parents. I cried like no other when I was writing it. Cancer affects everyone whether you are diagnosed with it or someone you love. I just lost my grandpa to a two year battle with cancer. Hardest time in my life was watching him fight through it.**_

* * *

Chapter 2

Paige didn't know how long she sat next to her dad's bedside, holding his hand. At one point she must have fallen asleep, because she woke up to feeling someone's hand on her head. She opened her eyes, forgetting for a moment where she was but once she saw the room the last 24 hours started coming back to her.

Paige's head was laying on her dad's hospital bed and when she lifted her head she looked over to see that her father was wake. Once Paige made eye contact with him, a smile spread across his face.

"Paige," Her father chocked out. "Hi baby."

"Hi daddy," Paige whispered, she leaned up and kissed his cheek. Paige felt more tears coming to her eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Jake asked his daughter.

"Mattie came and found me in LA," Paige told him. "I needed to come see you."

"Oh Paige," Jake began to cry. "I'm so sorry, baby. Maybe if I wasn't so…so…"

"Dad, stop. It's okay." Paige whispered. "It's in the past, let's not dig up the past, okay?"

Jake nodded. "It's so good to see you."

"It's good to see you too," Paige forced a smile. "I think you need to get some rest, I'll be right here when you wake up. I promise."

"That's a good idea," Jake said smiling. "I love you baby girl."

"I love you too dad," Paige leaned back up and kissed his cheek. Paige sat back down and brushed the tears from her face. God, this was so hard.

Paige let go of her father's hand, after he had fallen asleep, and headed for the bathroom. When she walked out she was met by her mother, Matt and a women that Paige assumed was Matt's girlfriend.

"Hey Paige," Matt was the first to speak when he saw his sister. He walked over and hugged her.

"Hey Mattie," Paige said forcing a smile.

After they pulled away from the hug, Paige looked over to her mother, who had been watching the siblings rather carefully.

"Hi mom," Paige addressed her mother for the first time.

"Paige," her mother said coolly.

Paige knew that was probably the only thing she was getting out of her mother so she turned her attention back to her brother.

"Oh Paige, this is my girlfriend Kelly," Matt gestured to the women behind him.

"Hi, nice to meet you." Paige said with the same forced smile.

"Nice to meet you as well." Kelly said sending Paige a smile as well.

No one really talked for the next 20 minutes when Paige decided she should probably call Walter.

"Excuse me, I need to go make a call." Paige stood up. Her mother was still basically ignoring Paige and Matt just nodded.

Paige walked out into the hall far enough that she would disturbed anyone in her father's room but close enough that if something happened she would know.

Paige dialed Walter's number and put her phone up to her ear. The phone rang once and then was answered immediately.

" _Paige?"_ Walter's voice came over the phone.

"Hey, sorry I didn't call last night when we got in. It was really late." Paige explained.

 _"_ _It's fine, how's your father?"_

"He's…he's a lot worse than I thought." Paige answered honestly. It was taking every part of her to not ask Walter to head to Cincinnati to be with her. She knew he would know what to say or to just simply hold her to make her feel better. But Walter had to run Scorpion and she couldn't ask him to come all the way out there.

 _"_ _Say the word Paige and I'm on the next flight."_ Walter reminded her.

"Oh God I really want you here, Walter, but you have Scorpion and I need you to watch Ralph." Paige said against her hearts wishes.

 _"_ _Toby or Cabe can watch Ralph, and the team will be just fine without me for a few days. Paige if you need me I'm coming."_ Walter informed her.

"Walter, please you don't have to." Paige really wished she would stop saying that.

" _Paige, I'm coming."_ Walter said. " _I'll be on the next flight out."_

"Thank you Walter," Paige sighed.

 _"_ _I'll call you when I land."_

Paige hung up the phone and walked back into her dad's room.

"Hey, Kelly and I are going to head back to my apartment. Are you okay here?" Matt asked.

"Yeah," Paige nodded. "When you come back, can you bring my bag?"

"Of course," Matt hugged his sister and then walked out of the room.

Paige walked back over to the seat she had sat in last night. She avoided her mother's gaze as much as possible. She really didn't want any drama with her.

Paige and her mother never really got along. Paige had always been a daddy's girl so her relationship with Martha Dineen was never very strong. It was always Paige's dream to go to a musical arts school but her mother wouldn't allow it. Martha hated Paige's dream to be a singer. Paige went to college to just do her generals until she figured out what she wanted to do with her life. What really drove Martha over the edge was when she found out that Paige was pregnant with a baseball player's kid nonetheless. Martha's first instinct was to have an abortion and she made sure Paige knew that was her 'only' option and to Paige's horror her father agreed with her mother. Paige couldn't imagen getting an abortion. And that's what she told her parents. Paige expected her mother to through her out but that part didn't come from Martha, it came from Jake. Nothing hurt Paige more than to know that her father had turned his back on her. She knew that Martha could and would do something like that, so Paige didn't really hold it against her mother, but when it was her father that changed things. She had a great relationship with her dad and for him to do that, in Paige's 19 year old mind, was unforgivable.

Paige never wanted her mother or father to meet Ralph. She felt like he was just to special for them to be allowed to meet. They wanted her to get rid of him and that was so far beyond wrong in Paige's mind. She knew that she had to have Ralph and that was a choice Paige was grateful that she made every day. Ralph was Paige's world and he always would be.

"So, are you still seeing that baseball player?" Martha asked bring Paige out of her train of thought.

"What?" Paige asked before she full understood her mother's question. "Umm no I'm not."

"Are you married?"

"No, I'm dating someone though."

"Hm." Was the only response Paige got.

"He's flying in this afternoon." Paige informed her mother.

"Is he now?" Martha said not making eye contact with her daughter. "And what is his name?"

"Walter, Walter O'Brien."

"How long have you been seeing _Walter_?" Martha asked putting a weird emphasize on Walter.

"Over a year and a half."

"And does he know about your child?"

 _"_ _What the hell kind of question is that?" Paige couldn't help but think to herself._

"I've been dating him for over a year, obviously."

"And he's okay with fathering another man's child?"

" .God. could you please stop judging me for like two seconds?" Paige blurted out. "I mean holy hell will I never be enough in your eyes?"

"I don't know what you are talking about." Martha said finally looking at her daughter.

"You're doing the same damn thing you've done my entire life." Paige responded feeling like she needed to smash something. "God, you were just waiting for me to do something bad enough in your eyes so you could get rid of me. How the hell you convinced dad to kick me out I'll never know."

Martha acted as if Paige had just offended her. "I loved you, you were the one that left."

"Oh bullshit," Paige laughed humorlessly. "You kicked me out. Just because Matt bought into your story of me leaving doesn't mean I'm going to. But I guess if it helps you sleep at night."

"You are so full of yourself," Martha spat. "You wanted to run around like a child. You weren't ready to raise a child when you acted like one yourself. Your father and I tried to tell you that but like usual you decided that you had to have what mom and dad said you couldn't. You were being selfish and that poor child has probably suffered for it."

That threw Paige over the edge. Paige stood up and was about to walk over to her mother and slap her, but she decided not to stoop that low.

"How dear you…" Paige almost couldn't believe her mother had said that. "I can't even believe you just said that."

Paige walked over to the door but before leaving she turned back to look at her mother one last time.

"I'll have you know that I have a better relationship with my son then you and I have ever had. Maybe if you knew half the things I went through, because I was thrown out on my own, you could understand how much I love my son. Don't ever talk about my parenting style." With that Paige walked out.

* * *

Paige spent the next couple of hours out in the waiting room. She didn't trust herself to go back in that room with her…with Martha. So she waited until she got a call from Walter telling her he had landed and asked for the address of the hospital. She couldn't wait until he got to the hospital. All she needed was to feel his embrace.

About twenty minutes after Paige received the call Walter with an unexpected companion walked down the hall to where Paige was.

"Hey…"Paige stopped the second she saw Ralph. "Oh my God, what are you doing here? Walter, what is he doing here?"

"I figured he might make you feel a bit better." Walter said. "Are you mad?"

"No…No of course not." Paige said hugging her son. "I'm glad you're hear baby." Paige smiled at him. She then turned her attention back to Walter. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Thank you," Paige said kissing him.

Once Paige and Walter pulled apart, Paige looked over the two most important people in her life.

"Should we go see your father?" Walter asked.

Paige really wanted to say no because she knew her mom was in there but agreed anyway.

When they walked in Martha shot Paige a glare but quickly changed the look on her face when she noticed Walter and Ralph.

To Paige's surprise her dad was awake.

"Hey daddy," Paige smiled at him.

"Hi little one." Jake smiled at his daughter. "And who might these two gentlemen be?"

"Dad, this is Walter my boyfriend." Paige gestured to Walter, then to Ralph," and this is my son, Ralph."

"Well, it's very nice to meet you."

"How are you feeling dad?"

"Oh right as rain. Maybe you can convince my doctors to let me go home." Her dad said hopefully.

"Not going to happen, dad."

"Well, you can't blame an old fool for trying."

Walter was curious as to why Paige was ignoring the women on the other side of the hospital room. He assumed that she was Paige's mother. He didn't know much about Paige's relationship with her parents other than from the look her mother gave her when they first walked in said that there was a lot of tension between the two women. Walter just hoped he would be able to support Paige through this.

* * *

Paige, Walter, and Ralph spent the next two days in the hospital or their hotel room. Paige didn't really talk about her past but Walter didn't mind.

Walter could tell that Jake Dineen was going to pass away any day now, in fact he was surprised that Jake was still holding on.

On their third night in Cincinnati Paige finally told Walter about her falling out with her parents. She told him about how her mother reacted to finding out she was pregnant and the options that she gave Paige. Paige also told Walter about being kicked out at 19 and how she really had no other option then to drop out of college and go with Drew. The more Paige told Walter about her parents the more surprised he became about how well she turned out.

Paige and Walter went to bed at about 2am after that tear filled conversation. Paige had slept for about an hour and a half when her phone started to ring. Paige really wanted to ignore it but when she saw that it was Matt, she knew something was wrong.

"Matt?" Paige asked sleepily.

"Mom just called me, we need to head to the hospital, right now." Paige could tell Matt was worried.

"Matt, what happened? Is dad okay?" Paige knew that that was a stupid question considering it wat 3am and she was needed at the hospital.

"I don't know, mom didn't give me details." Matt answered.

"Okay, I'll be on the road in 5." Paige hung up and turned to Walter.

"Everything okay?" Walter asked.

"I need to get to the hospital." Paige said. "I guess my mom called Matt and told him something was going on and he knew she wouldn't call me. Stay here. I'll take the rental and call you with information."

"No Paige, I can't have you driving if you're emotional." Walter said. Paige was about to argue that she wasn't emotional when she brushed her face and found new tears.

"Fine." Paige said. "I'll go get Ralph."

They pulled up to the hospital about fifteen minutes after the call and rushed in. Walter told Paige that he would wait with Ralph in the waiting room so that she could have sometime alone with her family.

Paige walked in to see Matt and her mother. Martha had tears running down her face.

Paige walked up and put her hand on Matt's shoulder. He looked over at her and put his arm around her, giving her a brief hug.

"We should give Paige some time alone with dad." Matt said to Martha.

"Fine." Was all the women said. Paige didn't really care what her mother's problem was now. She had a feeling this might be the last time she got to talk to her father and she was going to take full advantage of it.

Once everyone had left Paige walked over to sit next to Jake.

"Hey pumpkin." Jake said with a smile. Paige could tell that there was definitely something different about him this time then earlier the day before.

"Hey, what's going on daddy?" Paige asked trying to hold back the tears.

"Oh you know, just the crackpot doctors trying to put me on a time limit."

"And how much time have these 'crackpot doctors' give you?" Paige's eyes began to sting.

"A couple of days."

Paige didn't believe him. "Is that the truth?"

"No, they have to do a surgery today, they don't think I'll live through it."

"Well, they obviously don't know Jake Dineen very well." Paige responded, forcing a laugh. That caused her father to laugh as well.

"Nope, this don't know how much of damn fool I am." Jake said suddenly getting serious. "Paige, you have to know I love you. I need you to know how sorry I am for what happened twelve years ago. You have to know baby. I'm so sorry. Please know that."

Paige couldn't hold back the tears any longer. She grabbed her father's hand and squeezed.

"Daddy, I know…I promise I know." Paige cried. "I love you so much daddy."

"Paige, promise me something." Her father had tears streaming down his face.

"Anything."

"Forgive your mother," her dad requested. "Please just forgive her. Forgive her, then head back to LA. I'm not asking you to move back, I'm asking for you to be the bigger person."

"Okay daddy," Paige nodded her head. "Okay, I will."

"That's my girl," Jake placed his hand on Paige's face. "I wish I could have seen you grow into this incredible women."

* * *

The rest of the day, despite how hard Martha made it, Paige tried to be civil. Paige knew that forgiveness wasn't just going to happen like that, it was going to take some work, and even though it seemed impossible at the time Paige was willing to try.

Everyone was in the waiting room: waiting, hoping, and praying that Jake would put up a good fight. The group remained quiet for most of the time they waited except for the occasional coffee run or someone asking just a random question.

The awkwardness and the anticipation was killing Paige, she needed to do something, anything before she exploded. Paige was about to go for a walk when her father's oncologist walked up to the family. Paige didn't know it was possible for the room to get even quieter, but it dd.

"Mrs. Dineen, Matthew," the doctor made his greetings. "Hello," He looked towards Paige, Walter and Ralph. "I'm sorry to say that the surgery didn't go as well as we hoped it would. Jake put up a good fight but I'm not sure it was enough. He's in the ICU right now, but we might be able to move him out into a normal room soon."

"Is he going to make it?" Matt was the first to speak.

"To be honest, Jake's going to have to put up the fight of his life. It's going to take a lot and I'm not sure he still has it in him." The doctor reported. "Only time and test will tell us. I'm sorry I wish I had better answers for you all."

"Can we see him?" Paige asked.

"At this point I'll allow you to go in one at a time, with the exception of your son. He can go in with one of you if you would like." The doctor reported. "However, as much as I'd like to let you, I can't allow anyone to stay in the room with him for more than five minutes."

The five minutes Paige got to spend in his room were some of the longest, yet shortest five minutes of her life. Somehow Jake, the man that had always been so strong, seemed to have gotten worse. He was now a lot paler, he looked almost green, but Paige tried to attribute that to the lights. He looked so much older then he really was.

He was asleep the whole time she was in there, which didn't bother Paige. Paige grew up religious but after leaving home she grew away from her religion as well, but the whole time she was in the ICU she was praying, something she hadn't honestly done in over twelve years.

Paige knew that her father wasn't going to pull through. She could tell by just looking at him, that his body was giving up, his spirit might not be, but his body was.

"Daddy, I know it's unfair to ask you to hold on, so I'm not going to." Paige found herself saying. "I just need you to know how much I love you, I need you to know how sorry I am for the way we ended things, but to be honest I wouldn't change anything about our falling out. Because of that I got my incredible family. Don't get me wrong, I would have definitely shown back up a lot sooner. But because I was sort of thrown out on my own, I became who I am today, and I work with some truly amazing people.

"I love you dad, I know that I can't ask you to hold on, you've been doing that far too long, I'm asking you to let go." Paige's words shocked herself. Did what she just say make her a horrible person? Did that make her selfish? Paige honestly didn't understand why she said what she said, but before she could further understand what she had said the nurse came to tell her it was time to leave.

Paige was so confused. Why had she said that?

* * *

Jake's condition worsened with every hour. At one point Paige, Matt and Martha were brought into his room to sit with him until he went. (Paige didn't really want Ralph to see or experience this so Walter offered to stay behind.) The emotions were running high in the room and nobody spoke. They all just watched Jake. They all cried at different points, sometimes all together, but that was about the most interaction that they ever had.

After being in the room for about two hours, everyone could tell his time was nearing. Jake's breathing began to become very sharp and uneven, as well as it being less frequent. Paige just wanted to get up and run, but she knew that she couldn't, she wouldn't be able to forgive herself if she left.

About five minutes after his breathing got worse, came the familiar and heart shattering flat line tone. The room burst with emotion. Martha kissed her husband's face, then to Paige's surprise, turned around and wrapped Paige in a hug. It took Paige a second to recover but when she did she instantly hugged her mother back. How long they stood there neither really knew, but Paige was convinced that was the longest time that they had ever spent together without fighting.

* * *

As painful as it was to say goodbye, all three of the Dineen's could say that they were glad Jake was no longer suffering.

Paige, with Walter assuring her it was okay, decided to stay for the memorial service. But she sent Walter and Ralph back home. Walter couldn't be away from the team for another three days and Ralph had school.

During the time before the memorial, Paige stayed at her childhood home with her mother. As strained as their relationship was, they surprisingly got along. They definitely weren't close but they were civil with each other and that was enough for Paige.

The memorial came and went. Paige was supposed to be on a plain to LA the day after, she knew that she was running out of time to talk to her mother. She had to talk to Martha before she left. So that night after everyone left the Dineen's house Paige made her way into the family study where her mother had spent most of her time.

"Hey," Paige greeted with a smile.

"Hello," Martha said just briefly looking up from the book she was reading. Paige sat down on the couch that was directly in front of the one her mother was on, and she too pulled out a book. The two women sat in silence for what seemed life forever. Paige couldn't help but laugh at herself, she had faced Mexican drug lords, a deadly disease, hanging God only knows how many feet off the ground from a metal ball, she'd even driven just feet under a freaking plain, yet she was too scared to talk to the women that gave birth to her, how screwed up was that?

"Mom, can we talk?" the words slipped out before Paige even knew they were coming.

"What is it Paige?" Martha asked without looking up.

"Mom we have to talk about where we go from here." That caught Martha's attention.

"Whatever do you mean?"

"We need to figure out our relationship, mom…" Martha interrupted Paige.

"Paige, you're going to go back to LA and work for your boyfriend's company, while your brother and I are going to stay here and go on as we have the last twelve years. Nothing has changed."

"Mom, I'm trying here, can't you put in a little effort?" Paige didn't know why she was getting so irritated.

"You and I both know that if we were meant to have a good relationship it would have happened by now."

"I'm here, I'm trying!" Paige was now standing and she had her mother's full attention. "But I can't do it alone. Can't we just try for once to get along and perhaps forgive each other for the stupid mistakes we've made?"

Martha just laughed.

"I'm so sick of this, it's like my childhood all over again!" Paige shouted. "I could never do anything right in your eyes, I was a major screw up and Matt was just so perfect and couldn't do anything wrong, when he did it wasn't 'Matt you shouldn't have done that' it was 'Paige why'd you let him do that'. You never tried to establish a relationship with me, so why the hell am I trying now?" Paige stood up and walked out of the room before her mother could respond, she was done trying. Paige knew that she had promised her dad that she would try but if Martha was going to make it impossible then what was the point?

* * *

The next morning Paige had Matt take her to the airport so she could fly back to LA. She didn't bother to say goodbye to her mother, in her opinion everything that needed to be said had been said the night before. It was now up to Martha to decide what happens, and Paige was perfectly fine with that.

"Hey, be careful over there." Matt said as he pulled her bag out of his car. "And stay in touch. Don't make me wait twelve more years to talk to you."

"I won't," Paige smiled at her little brother. "Matt, thank you for coming to LA to get me. But I think you were wrong about one thing."

"Oh yeah, what would that be?" Matt watched his sister skeptically.

"I don't think it was dad that needed to see me, I think I was the one that needed to see him."

That caused Matt to smile. "You know when I saw you again for the first time in twelve years, I thought you had changed so much that I didn't know you anymore. Thanks for proving me wrong."

Paige and Matt hugged one last time, made stupid jokes at each other, and promised that they would keep in touch.

Paige couldn't help but smile at herself as she got on her plain. Maybe her relationship with her mom was a bust, but at least she got Mattie back.


	3. Chapter 3

**_Authors note at the end of the story. Hope you enjoy :)_**

Chapter 3

Paige had been back in LA for over a month. Life had been going fairly normal, with the exception of the new found relationship with Matt. They talked once a week over skype or just a phone call. Paige was so grateful to have reconnected with her brother, but the promise she had made to her father continued to echo in her mind. She knew that her father wasn't just asking her to forgive her mother, he wanted her to develop a relationship with her.

Paige was ashamed of how her last conversation went with Martha. She knew that her emotions were running high that night and so were her mothers, she shouldn't have allowed herself to get so upset knowing they were both so emotionally unstable. Now she didn't know how to go about connecting with her mother. She had talked to Matt about it but neither could think of anything that might help.

Paige felt hopeless. If she could, she'd fly back to Ohio to talk to her mother in person, but it just wasn't possible with work and everything that was going on in her life at the moment. Scorpion's cases were at an all-time high, not to mention she was just about to finish her last semester of classes to get her degree. Paige and Walter's relationship was at an all-time high and Ralph was excelling in school and, with Paige's approval, was helping with cases after school from the garage. Paige couldn't believe how amazing everything was turning out, but she still couldn't help but focus on her strained relationship with Martha.

"Paige," came Walter's voice snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"You alright?"

"Yeah, just thinking."

"Alright, Cabe just called, no cases today." Walter informed her. "The rest of the team is heading home, so it'll just be me and you today.." Walter said the last part with a smile.

"Oh, will it now?" Paige stood up from her desk and put her arms around Walter's neck, pulling him closer to her so she could whisper in his ear, "And what do you suggest we do?"

Paige planted a kiss just below his ear and down his jawline, causing Walter to moan. Walter put his hand below Paige's chin and pushed up lightly so she was now looking at her. Then his lips crashed with hers. He's arms went down to her waist and Paige's were still around the back of his neck, her hands in his messy curls.

Soon the kiss deepened. Both needing to pull away for air but neither wanted to so they continued to kiss. Paige was the one to pull away to catch her breath, while Walter trailed kisses down her neck and along her collarbone.

"Oh God…" Paige whispered as Walter kissed all the right places. Her fingers still curled into his hair.

Walter started to untuck her shirt and pulled it up over her head, only breaking away from kissing her for a split second. One of Walter's hands went straight to her breasts, with the other wrapped around her back pulling her closer to him.

Paige cupped Walters face and pulled him back up for another heated kiss.

"Oh Paige," Walter muttered against her lips.

"We should go upstairs." Paige said as Walter's mouth returned to her neck, but neither made an attempt to move.

Just as Walter was about to unclasp Paige's bra they heard a voice that neither wanted to hear.

"Seriously? Down in the office? Don't you have a bedroom?"

"Get the hell out, Toby." Walter muttered shielding Paige from the shrink's sight.

"Come on, I'm not the one doing the nasty down in the office."

"Get out," Walter's voice turned cold.

"Calm down there, 197. I just came to get my hat." Toby smirked as he walked over to his desk.

"Okay, you have your stupid hat, now go!"

"I think I might work on a few things while I'm here," Toby made his way over to his chair and sat down. He began to pull out files and books. Paige could tell that was about to send Walter over the edge.

"Walter," Paige whispered. "Come on, go upstairs."

"Not until Toby leaves." Walter spat glaring at the shrink.

Paige, who was now fully dressed, was about to hit Toby in the head with her desk lamp. Why did he always have to be such an ass? "Toby really?"

"What? I'm just trying to do some work in my work place." Toby pointed out.

"That's it!" Walter yelled. "If you don't get the hell out right now, you won't see another paycheck from me again."

"Oh please, 197. You make that threat far too often for me to believe you'll actually do it."

"Do you really want to take that gamble?" Paige asked knowing full well that Walter would do it.

Toby considered everything before standing up from his desk. "I'll just do this at my apartment," Toby muttered as he put all the files and books in his bag.

"Smart choice." Paige replied.

"Just don't tell Sly that you two did it down here or the team will never hear the…."

"Out." Walter ordered before Toby could finish.

When Paige heard the door close she wrapped her arms around the back of Walter's neck, "Now, where were we?"

* * *

Paige and Walter were lying in their bed with the only thing covering their nakedness was a thin sheet. Paige's body was draped over Walters as they lay in silence.

Just as Paige was starting to fall asleep her phone rang.

She leaned over to grab it and saw that it was Ralph.

"Hi baby." Paige said as she answered the call. She listened to Ralph before she spoke again. "Yeah that should be fine, as long as his mom's okay with it."

"Alright, have a great night. I'll come pick you up in the morning."

"Okay, love you."

Paige leaned back over and put her phone on her night stand.

"Everything okay?" Walter asked as Paige wrapped her arm around Walters's abdomen again.

"Yeah, Ralph's spending the night with a friend." Paige answered.

"Do you want to have a date night?" Walter asked.

"What?" Paige was shocked. Every time they went out on a date it was her idea, he'd never suggested a date night before.

"Yeah why not, it's just the two of us we might as well do something."

"Okay, what do you want to do?"

"We can go to that Italian restaurant you like."

"Walter, you hate Italian food." Paige pointed out.

"Yeah, but you don't." Walter said with a smile, "and if you like it, then that's where we should go."

"Walter, that's very sweet of you!" Paige said as she leaned in to give her boyfriend a kiss. "Come on."

Paige stood up and pulled Walter by the hand. "Where are we going?"

"Well if we're going out, we can't go out like this. We have to shower." Paige smirked at him.

"Oh…umm…o-okay." Walter stammered as he followed Paige into the bathroom without any further questions.

* * *

While Paige was upstairs getting ready for dinner, Walter was down in the office trying to work on a few case files for Paige, but his mind was somewhere else completely. Walter quickly looked up to make sure Paige wasn't coming down the stairs and pulled out the small, blue box from his pocket.

Walter had never felt this feeling before, he figured Paige would describe it as nervousness. He didn't believe in marriage or even really romantic gestures but Paige did and he wanted to make her as happy as possible. He had been planning this night for over two months but then Paige's brother showed up and another opportune moment never came up.

"Sorry, I'll be down in a sec, Walter." Paige called from up in the loft causing Walter to jump, he instantly shoved the ring box back in his pocket and became very awkward. Seconds later Paige came into sight. She was wearing a short, form fitting black dress with a deep v neckline.

"Hey sorry it took so long," she said as she came down the stairs.

"You…Yyyou look…" Walter stuttered.

"Thank you Walter," Paige knew what Walter was trying to say. She walked over to her boyfriend and kissed him on the cheek, then his mouth.

Paige's eyes went to Walter's desk, and she saw the files.

"Have you been working on my case files?"

"Is that okay?"

"Of course, Walter. That's really really nice of you, thank you baby." Paige kissed him again.

"Mmm, are you sure we have to go out, can't we just have a date night here instead?" Paige asked as she pulled away again.

"Sorry, we're going out." Walter replied.

Paige continued to trail kisses down his neck. "Are you sure about that?" Paige said in between kisses.

"Fast dinner?" Walter suggested.

"Yeah," Paige answered. "We better get going than."

However just as they were about to leave, the main garage door opened.

* * *

"What are you doing here?" Was the first thing out of Paige's mouth when she saw her mother in the doorway of the garage.

"Well, that's not a very nice way to greet your mother." Martha deadpanned.

Walter stood up from his desk and instinctively put his arm around Paige's back pulling her close to him. He could tell that Paige was uncomfortable.

"Sorry, hi mom. What are you doing here?" Paige asked with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. She was so grateful to have Walter there by her side.

"Is it a crime to come and see my daughter?" Martha asked as she made her way into the garage, over to the couple.

"Well excuse me for being confused, considering the last time we spoke you made it very clear you wanted nothing to do with me, I'm just wondering why you would travel all the way to LA." Paige was beginning to become irritated.

"I came to have a conversation with you." Martha was now standing in front of Paige and Walter and for the first time noticed that they were both dressed up. "But I can tell I might have come at a bad time."

"We were just about to go on a date." Paige said confirming that Martha had indeed come at a bad time.

Walter turned to Paige, "Can I talk to you up in the loft for a second?"

"Yeah," Paige said turning her attention to her boyfriend. "Please give us a second."

The couple walked hand in hand up to their bedroom, neither saying anything until the door was closed.

"I think you need to talk to her." Walter turned to face Paige.

"Walter, you know what she said to me. She made it very clear that she wanted nothing to do with me." Paige said as she sat down on the bed.

Walter walked in front of her and knelt down so that they were eye level.

"Paige, she's down stairs right now. She didn't come here for nothing." Walter stated. He placed his hand on her chin and lightly pushed up so she was looking at him. "I think you need to hear her out. Who knows maybe she's willing to try."

"I would much rather spend the night with you." Paige answered. "Are you sure I have to do this?"

"You don't have to do anything, Paige." Walter responded. "If you want I'll go down there and tell her to leave. But that's not what I think you should do."

Paige sighed. "Fine, I'll hear her out."

Before standing up Walter cupped Paige's face with his hands and leaned in to kiss her.

"I love you, Walter." Paige whispered against Walter's lips.

Walter pulled away and smiled at her. "Do you want me down there with you?"

Paige shock her head. "No, this is a conversation I think I need to have alone."

"Okay, I'll be up here if you need me."

* * *

"What can I do for you?" Paige asked as she made her way down the stairs from the loft.

"I believe we left things in a bit of a bad place." Martha stated. "I came to apologize."

It took every bit of strength in Paige's body not to allow her jaw to drop. Her mother was going to apologize?

"Mom, not that I'm not grateful for you coming all the way out to LA and everything, but isn't it a little late for apologize?"

"Well, if that's how you feel then I guess I should just go." Her mom began to make her way over to the door of the garage.

"Wait mom." Paige found herself saying. "Look I'm sorry, I just didn't expect this."

Paige walked over and sat on the red couch and gestured for her mother to do the same.

"Where's your boyfriend?" Martha asked as she sat next to her daughter.

"He's up in the loft."

"Oh, is that where he lives?"

"That's where we live. Walter, Ralph and I." Paige informed her knowing her mother would exactly like that answer.

"Oh, I see." Martha said with a hint of disgust.

"Okay, you don't get to judge me for where I choose to live." Paige shot back.

"I wasn't judging you, Paige."

"Ha, yeah and I don't work with a group of geniuses." Paige rolled her eyes. "What is it? Please enlighten as to why it's so bad that I live here."

"Well, it's just don't you think you moved a little fast with this Walter guy? I mean how long have you been dating? We don't really want another Drew Baker situation." Martha answered looking around the garage. "What happened between you and the _baseball_ player anyway?"

"Did you come here to start another fight?" Paige couldn't handle it anymore. She was no longer a little girl who cowered in a corner when mom got mad. She faced death on a daily bases, Martha Dineen was nowhere near as intimidating as working with Scorpion is.

"Paige that was always your problem as a child. You took everything to heart." Martha retorted. "And you could never notice your own faults. Just admit you made a mistake."

Paige just shook her head and walked over to her desk. She grabbed the picture off her desk of her, Walter, and Ralph. Paige couldn't help but smile when she looked at it.

Picture in hand she walked back over to where her mother was sitting.

"This," Paige handed the photo to her mom. "This is my family. They are more family to me then you ever were." Paige looked down at the photo, then back up to her mother. "I'm sorry that I was such a huge disappointment to you growing up. I tried to measure up to your expectations, but I always fell short." Paige whipped away the stray tears that had fallen. "When I found out that I was pregnant I was terrified and I prayed that you might act like my mother for once in over 18 years. I'm sorry I was a disappointment, but that little boy is my whole world. He…he is so amazing, and kind, and loving. I couldn't imagen life without that kid in my life. He's who made my life easier in the crappiest of times. He's the one that put a smile on my face when we were kicked out of our apartment two days before Christmas." Paige couldn't look at her mother anymore so she stayed focused on her beautiful son's face. "Ralph, taught me how to love unconditionally.

"You may not understand this mom. But this," Paige gestured to the photo and then to the garage, "This is what makes me happy. I am good at what I do and I work with four of the most amazing people to ever live. You're right mom, I'm not perfect. I'm far from it. But I try on a daily basis and I make a difference in this world."

Paige turned around for a split second to take in the familiar sight of the garage, then turned back to her mother. "It may not look like much, but this is the work of geniuses." Paige couldn't help but smile. "Scorpion is my home and I guess I have you to thank for that in around about way. Because if you hadn't kicked me out I probably never would have met Walter and I probably wouldn't have the most incredible little boy in the world as my son."

Paige sat back down on the couch but didn't look at her mother.

"God, you really are your father's daughter." Martha chocked out. "He could have been so proud of you if he heard what you just said." Martha cleared her throat and looked over at Paige, who was now looking up. "I'm sorry I was so hard on you as you grew up. I knew that you were distended to do incredible things, but I guess the incredible things you were meant to do differed from the once I thought you would do." Martha reached out and grabbed Paige's hand. "What you do with Scorpion is truly incredible sweetie. Your father was so proud of you, so…so am I."

"Mom, I don't really know how you want me to respond to this." Paige didn't know if she could believe the words coming out of Martha's mouth.

"Paige, this is my apology. Do with it what you would like to darling." Martha stood up. "I love you, Paige. I'll come by tomorrow afternoon."

Before Paige could say anything Martha was gone.

* * *

That conversation had not gone the way Paige thought it would.

"Hey, how'd it go?" Walter asked as he came down the stairs from the loft.

"Ohhhh, I don't really know." Paige answered with her hands covering her face.

Walter walked over and sat next to her, pulling her into his arms. "What can I do to help?" Walter had figured out a while ago that it was easier just to ask how to help then try to figure it out on his own.

"Just hold me like you're doing right now." Paige mumbled as she settled in against his chest.

Paige's left arm went down to rest on his leg and felt a weird bump. "What is that?" Paige asked as she pulled away and looked down towards his pocket. Paige's heart began to race as she started to think of things that the little box in his pocket could be.

"Oh that," Walter suddenly got very nervous and awkward. "It's just a umm a box."

"I can tell it's a box, Walter." Paige said with a laugh. "Baby, what's in the box?"

Walter frustratingly pulled the small blue box out of his pocket and reluctantly handed it over to Paige.

"I uhh, I was going to umm ask you at dinner." Walter stammered out.

Paige's hands were shacking as she opened the box to reveal a diamond engagement ring. Her hand shot up to cover her mouth. She looked over at Walter and saw him watching her nervously.

"Walter…" Paige began but she didn't really know what to say.

"Paige, yes this is exactly what I want."

"Walter, is this something you really want?" Paige asked as she grabbed his hand.

"Yes, Paige this is definitely what I want." Walter answered.

Paige didn't really know how to respond.

"Wait, Paige is this something you want?" Walter had never thought for one second that Paige would say until now.

"Of course it is Walter," Paige answered taking his hands into hers. "But I don't want you to do this if you don't want to. I know you don't believe in marriage…"

Before Paige could finish Walter interrupted. "No, but you do. And all I want to do is to make you happy."

"Walter, you do make me happy." Paige leaned in and kissed him. "But I don't want you to feel like you have to do this just because of me."

"Paige, I'm not doing it because I have to…I'm doing it because this is what I want." Walter grabbed the ring box off of the couch where Paige had set it down.

Walter's mind immediately went to one of the, as Paige had put it, 'chick flicks' that she had made him suffer through, where the guy knelt down on one knee and asked the women to marry him. So that's just what he did.

"Paige, I know I'm really stupid when it comes to romance and you know being human but I ahh I want to try for you. Please help me umm become a better person and ahh marry me?" Walter said the last timidly.

"Of course, Walter…." Paige pulled him into a long passionate kiss.

"I know I don't say this enough but, I love you, Paige." Walter smiled at her and pulled her into another kiss.

"I know," Paige smiled at him. "I love you too, Walter."

* * *

Paige and Walter decided to keep their engagement quiet until they had a chance to talk to Ralph and see what he thought about it.

Paige and Walter were standing over by Walters desk when Toby walked in, "Morning to the two love birds," he called as he walked over to his desk.

"Toby it's Saturday, what are you doing here?" Paige turned to confront the shrink.

"Well because you and Mr. O'Brien over there were doing the nasty down here last night I didn't get to work on a few things, so I came to get some work done." Toby answered.

Paige completely forgot that she was wearing her ring until Toby's eyes went to her left hand that was now resting on Walter's shoulder. She looked down and quickly took her hand off Walter's should and folded her arms to hide the ring.

Toby knew that would be the perfect time to confront them about the ring but, he was still afraid that Walter would take away his paycheck, so he decided against it.

"Hey I need to go pick up Ralph," Paige turned her attention back to Walter.

"Alright, when you two get back we can talk to him." Walter whispered the last part.

Paige just smiled at him, and leaned down to kiss his cheek.

She then preceded to grab her purse off of her desk and headed to the back door of the garage where she parked her car.

The garage was silent for several minutes and just as Toby was about to say something, there was a knock on the main door to the garage.

Toby stood up to answer it.

Walter looked up to see Paige's mother.

"Mrs. Dineen," Walter instinctively stood up. "Paige just left a few minutes ago to go pick up Ralph."

"May I wait here for her?" Martha asked.

"Yeah," Walter nodded his head. He really wished Toby wasn't here. He needed to make a good impression and the shrink probably wouldn't help any. "Can I get you some coffee?"

"Yes, thank you." Martha answered in a strangely cold voice as she sat on the red sofa.

Walter gestured for Toby to follow him and the two men walked into the kitchen. Walter flipped around to talk face to face with Toby.

"You need to leave." Walter ordered just loud enough for the shrink to hear him.

"Seriously Walter, I have work to do." Toby said with a smirk. "So that's our liaison's mother."

"Yes, and you're not going to talk to her."

"Ah I get it. You have to suck up to Mamma Dineen so that you can marry Paige." Toby smirked. "Not that you haven't already asked Paige to marry you."

"Toby I don't know what you're talking about." Walter deadpanned as he grabbed a mug for Martha's coffee.

Before Toby could catch Walter in his lie the office phone began to ring. Walter picked up the mug and took it to Martha before answering the phone.

"Walter O'Brien….No, but we can get them here, why...Okay see you in ten." Walter hung up the phone and faced Toby.

"We have a case, call the team." Walter ordered. "I'll call Paige."

Walter picked up his cell phone and dialed Paige's number.

" _Hello?"_

"Hey how fast can you get to the garage?"

 _"_ _I'm about five minutes out, why?"_

"We've got a case and um your mom's here."

 _"_ _What? When did she get there?"_

"A couple of minutes ago. I don't really know, she just asked if she could wait for you."

" _Umm okay I'll be there as soon as I can. Hey what kind of case?"_

"I don't know, Cabe didn't say."

 _"_ _Alright see you soon. Love you." Paige responded and the phone went dead._

Walter put his phone back down on his desk and began to assemble the things he usually took on a case.

"Happy and Sly are on their way."

"How long? Cabe sounded like it was urgent."

"Happy said she was going to pick Sly up so maybe ten minutes."

"Alright, start packing up."

Walter had forgotten about Martha as he focused on making sure everything was ready. After he made sure he had everything he moved over to Paige's desk to get her stuff ready. He used to feel weird when he went through Paige's desk but after doing it some many times he stopped caring. When Walter opened her top drawer he saw the small ring box. He couldn't help but smile at himself.

Soon Walter had all of Paige's stuff in his bag and turned his attention back to his computer to get the file that Cabe had sent to him. Just as he sat down the back door of the garage opened then closed. He looked up to see Paige and Ralph.

"Hey buddy." Walter greeted the young genius with a smile. "Paige I have all your stuff packed in my bag."

"Thank you," Paige said with a smile before turning her attention to her mother.

"Ralph, can I borrow you for a moment?" Walter asked so that Paige could have some privacy.

"Mom I'm sorry but I have to work." Paige said as she walked over to the red couch.

"I noticed," Martha deadpanned.

"We'll talk later, okay?"

Just then in walked Cabe, Sly, and Happy.

"Alright team, let's get this show on the road!" Cabe called as he walked over to the screens. "We have a situation at UCLA, at least two gunmen are holding the science building hostage."

"What does that have to do with us?" Sly asked as he rummaged through his desk.

"There's a major chemical spill in the lab that is going to begin to kill people within the hour."

"Let's stop talking and move. People need our help!" Walter yelled and with that half the team was gone.

"Sorry, I'll call you when we get back. Ralph, get your homework done." Paige called halfway out the door.

* * *

Paige slammed her bag on her desk.

"Paige, please talk to me." Walter put his hand on Paige's shoulder.

"What the hell were you thinking, Walter?" Paige flipped around and glared at Walter. "Do you have a death wish that none of us know about?"

"Paige I did what I had to, to save everyone. Wasn't it you who told me that we save everyone?" Walter didn't understand why Paige was so upset with him. He did what he had to.

"Yes Walter, but not like that." Paige spat. "You wouldn't have been any good to those kids dead."

It was taking every bit of strength for Paige not to slap Walter. "Walter, you're not immortal you can't go doing stuff like that!"

"It wasn't a big deal Paige. I'm fine, everyone's fine." Walter was so confused.

"Not a big deal? Not a big deal? Walter you had a gun to your head." Paige couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Everyone….Everyone told you not to go in there and you completely ignored us. Despite the fact that your intentions were good Walter, you made a mistake. A mistake that could have cost your life."

"Paige why are you so upset? I'm alive and so are those kids. I did what I had to. I'm not sorry for that."

"Walter, Paige has a point." Toby chimed in. "What you did was reckless and stupid."

"You guys, I did what I had to do to save lives." Walter turned to face the whole team. "Sure what I did wasn't the smartest thing but it was the most efficient. I'm fine and so are those kids." Walter turned back to Paige. "Look, I know that I scared you but everything is fine. No one was hurt."

"Walter, that's not the point. The point is, is that what you did was reckless and no you weren't hurt this time but who's to say that you won't be the next time you do something like that?" Paige pointed out. "Walter you didn't just scare me, you scared everyone. Don't you see how extremely stupid running into a building with a chemical spill and two men holding automatic weapons." Paige sighed and turned back to her desk. "Walter, I can't do this right now."

Paige turned back and looked at Walter, then walked over to Ralph, "Come on baby, let's go get lunch."

"Paige wait a second. We have to talk this through." This was all feeling very familiar to Walter from the last time Paige left during a fight. He ended up in a crashed car inches from falling to his death.

"Not right now Walter." Walter could tell that Paige was still upset. "We'll talk later. Come on Ralph."

Walter didn't know what to say so he just watched as Paige and Ralph walked out the door. He only came back to reality when he heard the garage door close.

Walter began to walk to the door, he had to stop Paige.

"Walter, give her some space." Toby walked in front of Walter. "You two just need to calm down. That's all she's doing is allowing for a cool off period."

"Get out of my way Toby." Walter was not in the mood to deal with Toby's crap.

"Walter calm down. Just let her have some time." Toby put his hand on Walter shoulder.

"Damnit Toby, I'm not joking!"

"And neither am I, Walter!" Toby knew that yelling at his boss wasn't a very smart idea but he needed to get to Walter somehow. "You need to chill. Paige isn't leaving you. She's not calling off the engagement. She just needs some time to cool down." Toby said without thinking about the fact that no one knew about the engagement.

"Engagement?" Sly pipped up. "What engagement?"

"How the hell…" Walter started but stopped as he remembered their conversation from that morning.

"You and Dineen got engaged?" Happy walked over to where Toby and Walter were standing and folded her arms. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Damnit Toby seriously? Can you ever just shut up and mind your own business?" Walter stormed over to his desk deciding that their conversation was over.

"No Walter I can't." Toby followed him over to his desk. "It's not in my nature."

"Then maybe you need to evolve." Walter rolled his eyes as he stared down at his laptop. He picked up his laptop and stood up. "I'm going to the loft. You're all welcome to get2 out."

With that Walter ran out of the room.

* * *

Paige just needed time to think and cool off, so after they got food Paige decided to take Ralph to the science museum.

After spending the afternoon together, Paige decided it was time to head back to the garage. On her way she dropped Ralph off at Cabe's so she and Walter could have some time alone. Paige expected everyone to still be at the garage but when she walked in there was no one there.

She walked up into the loft and instantly saw a shattered mug on the floor.

"Walter?" Paige called. She knew that Walter was upset but she didn't realize he was that upset. Paige began to worry as her mind went to the accident almost two years ago. She made her way over to their bedroom door and slowly opened it. "Hey," Paige inched into the room, she saw Walter sitting on the edge of the bed with his hands covering his face. "Walter, look up at me." Walter didn't move.

Paige walked over and sat next to him. "What's going on? Talk to me."

"Paige…" Walter sat up and looked over at her. "I'm sorry."

"Walter it's okay." Paige grabbed his hand. "Just don't ever do that to me again. I need you to be selfish sometimes. You can't do stuff like that, Walter. You won't be any good to anyone if you die."

"I know Paige. It was stupid." Walter squeezed Paige's hand. "I was stupid."

"I love you Walter and I don't know what I would do if I lost you." Paige cupped his face with her hands. "Don't let me find out."

Paige leaned in and kissed him. "I love you so much, Walter."

"I know," Walter whispered. "I…I do too."

* * *

Paige and Walter spent the majority of the night together. That is until they had yet another interruption.

Walter ran down the stairs after they heard a knock at the front door and opened it to find Martha Dineen.

"Mrs. Dineen?" Walter blurted out. "Please, come in. I'll go grab Paige."

"Thank you." Martha answered as she walked in.

Walter walked back up the stairs. "Hey, your mom's down stairs."

"Oh crap." Paige blurted out as she remembered that she was supposed to call her mom after the mission. She got up from the bed and walked out of their room to head downstairs.

"I'm sorry mom. It was just a long day." Paige walked over to her mother.

"Yes, I heard all about it on the news." Martha drawled.

"Mom about yesterday, I want you to know I appreciate your apology and I want to apologize myself. I didn't exactly make it easy on you and dad." Paige sat down next to her mother. "I know that you love me. I know that dad loved me and I love you both. I've grown up in the last twelve years. I hope you can give me a chance to show you that."

"I can already tell how much you've grown." Martha answered. "I want to be involved in your life if you'll have me."

"Yeah mom, I'd like that."

Paige and Martha continued to talk about the last twelve years for a few more hours. Then the two women began to get tired.

"Do you want to sleep here?" Paige asked through a yawn.

"No, I need to head back to the hotel room to pack. My flight leaves in the morning."

"Oh, I didn't realize you would be leaving so soon." Paige just nodded her head. "Will you wait a second? I need to grab Walter."

"What for?"

"Just hold on." Paige stood up and ran up to her room.

"Hey," Walter looked up from his laptop. "Is your mom still here?"

"Yeah, she uh is leaving tomorrow." Paige answered. "I was thinking, maybe we should tell her about our engagement."

"If that's what you want." Walter answered. He put his laptop back on the bedside table and walked over to her and hand in hand they walked down to where Martha was.

* * *

"I'm very excited for you." Martha said as she hugged Paige. "I can tell you make each other happy. I'm very proud of you, Paige."

"Thanks mom." Paige smiled at her mother. Even though they were on good terms it was still a little weird. "We haven't told Ralph yet but we will."

"Where is Ralph?" Martha asked.

"He's with a friend of ours." Walter answered.

"Well he seems like a very nice little boy."

"He's amazing." Paige responded.

They didn't talk for much longer before Martha decided to head back to her hotel room and for the first time since Paige could remember her and her mom were in a good place. Paige knew that they had a long road ahead of them but she knew that it would be worth it. She knew it was time to return to the family she once loved more than anything else in the whole world. She knew that would never be the case again because she now had her Fiancé and son. They were her world and nothing would change that.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Alright so this is the end of the story... I'm sorry if it felt a little rushed, I tend to write like that. Anyway thank you for reading this story and I know dedications usually happen at the beginning of stories but I'm shacking things up. I would like to dedicate this story to my grandpa who just passed away from a long two year battle with cancer. I know that we didn't get our miracle but to anyone who did I'm so beyond happy for you! No one should ever have to suffer at the hands of cancer.**_

 _ **Please let me know what you think and I may do an epilogue to the story depending on the reaction I get to this chapter. Let me know what you think, do you want another chapter or no? Anyway until next time remember to Smile :D**_


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